Setting up my fully adjustable suspension for the strip

[leftynridge]

Well I just finished up with fully rebuilding my suspension. Here is what I have.

ST sway bars
New inner and outer tie rods
New lower ball joints
New front and rear poly subframe bushings
New rack bushings
New poly control arm, traction arm, and toe arm bushings
Fully adjustable control arm, traction arm, and toe arm from Wes with spherical ends not heim joints
Adjustable end links
New camber and toe bolts
Kyb struts ( already on car)
Stock springs


What do I need to do to set this thing up for the track? I have an idea and have read several articles. Just wanted the opinions of experts that have been there done that with these cars. For the record I am not building the car for the strip but will be taking it there to race my buddies foxbody with suspension, 450hp, c4, and 4000 stall. Im running built bottom end, billet 6265, quick spool valve, aem ems, e85, fully built r154, rps 3200 clutch set up, and targeting 600hp.

 

[spencyg]

Doesn't look like you have adjustable dampers, and that is the only thing which I would pay attention to for the drag strip. It goes without saying that your adjustable suspension links are there only to provide a good alignment which you should have already done by now. Beyond that, you don't have anything to adjust. Drag racing is all about weight transfer. If you had adjustable struts, you'd want the rebound on the front struts very soft to allow the front end to rise quickly when you launch, transferring weight to the rear. Likewise, you want the rear jounce damping to be a little soft as well to absorb the lift from the nose, dropping the rear end down to give you an initial raked-up stance. This gets as much weight as possible on the rear tires. Beyond that, its all about your clutch control and whether you're running drag tires or not. But to answer your original question (again), there isn't anything beyond a good alignment that you can do with your setup.

SGinNE

 

[Poodles]

http://www.supramania.com/forums/showthread.php?14479-Your-guide-to-drag-strip-success-w-pics.

 

[leftynridge]

http://www.supramania.com/forums/showthread.php?14479-Your-guide-to-drag-strip-success-w-pics.

I have looked at this article a few times. Very useful.

Correct me if I'm wrong but by adjusting camber and toe to where the car's rear tires would sit just a hair on the outside edge of the tire, wouldn't the contact patch be more even once the weight transfers to the rear and the car squats. So my question would be couldn't you adjust these arms as well as the alignment bolts to fine tune your traction patch?

Pardon me on how I may come across explaining this cause I'm sure there is a more technical terminology for what I'm saying.

---------- Post added at 08:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:51 PM ----------

Doesn't look like you have adjustable dampers, and that is the only thing which I would pay attention to for the drag strip. It goes without saying that your adjustable suspension links are there only to provide a good alignment which you should have already done by now. Beyond that, you don't have anything to adjust. Drag racing is all about weight transfer. If you had adjustable struts, you'd want the rebound on the front struts very soft to allow the front end to rise quickly when you launch, transferring weight to the rear. Likewise, you want the rear jounce damping to be a little soft as well to absorb the lift from the nose, dropping the rear end down to give you an initial raked-up stance. This gets as much weight as possible on the rear tires. Beyond that, its all about your clutch control and whether you're running drag tires or not. But to answer your original question (again), there isn't anything beyond a good alignment that you can do with your setup.

SGinNE

NO dampers yet. Didn't really plan on taking it to the track but my friend and I have a little bet going. I figured if I'm going to show up better make sure I'm prepared. Cause beating a foxbody at the track isn't an easy task.

 

[Poodles]

Correct, you want a bit of positive camber. The main issue is that's not ideal for anything other than straight line racing...